China completed its military maneuvers around Taiwan and issued a warning to the United States

During the exercises, which began at 7:45 on Thursday (23:45 GMT on Wednesday) and ended this Friday, it was highlighted that Taiwan repelled the incursion of Chinese ships, including four that entered today into waters near the Wuqiu Islands and Dongyin, located a few kilometers from China.

The operation, baptized Joint Sword – 2024A (“united sword” in English) seeks, according to Beijing, “to punish those who promote Taiwanese independence.”

What’s more, China’s Defense Ministry warned during the day that it will again “take countermeasures” against Taiwan if “secessionist forces seeking independence continue to provoke” and “until the complete reunification of the country is achieved.”

“The Command organized its forces to carry out joint exercises around the island with the objective of testing their combat capabilities. They are legitimate and necessary maneuvers, and seek to repress the arrogance of the secessionist forces and deter interference and intervention by external forces” Spokesman Wu Qian said at a press conference this Friday.

According to Wu, “the Taiwan question will be resolved by the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people,” and indicated that the Chinese Army “will safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity with practical measures.”

The Chinese Army highlighted that the second day included “integrated operations inside and outside the archipelago and testing of joint power seizure capabilities,” according to the spokesman for the Army’s Eastern Theater Command, Li Xi.

On the sidelines, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin today advised the United States to stay on the sidelines and not make “irresponsible comments.”

“The root cause of tensions across the Taiwan Strait lies in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities’ attempt to ‘rely on the United States and seek independence.’ At the same time, some voices in the United States are trying of ‘using Taiwan to contain China’ under the pretext of maintaining regional peace and stability,” he said.

“If the US really wants to maintain cross-Strait peace and stability, it should unequivocally adhere to the ‘one China principle’ and oppose Taiwanese separatism. China will never allow any force to provide a ‘protective umbrella’ for the separatist activities, under no pretext,” he said.

Wang also stated that “the international community adheres to the ‘one China principle'”, that “”Taiwan independence” is a dead end” and that “tolerating and supporting Taiwanese independence only leads to disaster.”

The island is one of the main reasons for friction between China and the US, since the North American country is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and could intervene to defend it in the event of a conflict.

“China will remain unwavering in its determination and will to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will take all necessary measures to decisively crush any independence plot,” he concluded.

China’s military action takes place in the same week that William Lai (Lai Ching-te) assumed the presidency of Taiwan, considered a “separatist” by Beijing and who on Thursday asked the population for calm, mobilized the armed forces of the island and assured that his Government will “determinedly” protect Taiwanese democracy.

On Thursday, the first day of maneuvers around the island, a total of 35 Chinese warplanes crossed the middle line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the southwest of the self-proclaimed Taiwanese Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), according to the ministry. military of the island.

China is resorting to this type of maneuver for the fourth time since 2022, when it carried out the first of this caliber in response to the visit of the then speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan, which infuriated to Beijing and raised the tension in the strait to levels unprecedented in decades.